3. John Ford
A giant of cinema, John Ford might be the best craftsman in Hollywood history, pioneering location shooting, winning more Best Director Oscars than any other director, and legitimizing the most uniquely American movie genre through his work in Westerns. Ford was one of the few great directors who improved after Hollywood switched to sound. Extraordinarily hard-working, Ford made 62 short and feature length films between 1917 and 1928, and even though he slowed down significantly in the sound age, he has one of the longest filmographies of any major director. He slowly distinguished himself as a director both with major artistic talent and as someone who could bring in substantial amount of money at the box office, making him one of the world's most respected directors by the late 30's. In 1939, he changed American movies forever with Stagecoach, which not only made John Wayne the most famous American actor but also turned the Western from a B-genre into Hollywood's biggest moneymaker. His later forays into the genre such as My Darling Clementine and The Searchers remain some of the most respected films of the era and when you add his social consciousness dramas such as The Grapes of Wrath, Ford has one of the most historically respected filmographies of any American director. Ford's films are remembered for many reasons but the most significant might be his cinematographical style, which has been described as "painterly" by numerous critics. In addition, he used less dialogue than many of his contemporaries, which only added to the expressionistic effects of his movies. He was legendarily tough on his filmmaking crew, reportedly even making John Wayne break into tears on the set of one movie, but almost everyone who worked with him thought Ford brought out the best in them. Although he is not generally remembered as fondly by the average movie fan as other directors such as Hitchcock, Ford is considered by many to be not only the greatest American filmmaker but maybe the best director from any country of all time. Bergman certainly thought he was one of the greats, as did Orson Welles, and his work has been championed by everyone from the directors of the French New Wave to George Lucas. Described as cinema's premier poet by Orson Welles, John Ford was one of the first American directors to bring a sense of artistry and sophistication to Hollywood filmmaking.